Describing the perfect camera for still photography
Everyone's photography use case is different. Mine is pretty simple. I need a photo-first camera. Something for travel and street photography. I'd like it to be small and inconspicuous. I'd prefer something that I have physical dials to control things like shutter speed, exposure compensation and a lenses available that have aperture rings. In other words the more manual the better.
I'd prefer a body style that is more rangefinder-esque vs. SLR style. Regardless of body design, it needs to be relatively small. Not pocketable but definitely not the same size as a full frame camera. My educated guess is that a 35mm equivalent full frame lens will probably live on the camera 99% of the time.
I'm OK with a fixed lens option or even a built-in zoom option. The capability to change lenses is nice, but the goal of this camera is to be somewhat small, inconspicuous and easy to carry all day.
I'd love to have IBIS. My hands just aren't as steady as they used to be. Having IBIS for low light situations would be awesome. It's not a deal breaker, but it would be a nice to have feature.
From a sensor perspective, I know I'm either 4/3rds or APS-C. It's doubtful I'd print anything larger than 16x20, so either sensor type is OK.
I'd prefer to buy new vs. used. With those requirements in mind, it's a somewhat limited market. At the time of this writing the cameras that meet most of my requirements are the:
At this point I'm heavily leaning towards the LUMIX L10 with the XE-5 being a close runner-up. The problem is I can't physically get either camera in my hand. You just have to research as much as you can because professional camera shops just don't exist any more.